John Grisham’s fans were surprised and delighted by the recent announcement that Sycamore Row, his next novel for adults, will be a sequel to his debut novel A Time to Kill. When it was first published in 1989, A Time to Kill was not successful. The novel was re-released after The Firm and The Pelican Brief became bestsellers, and it became a bestseller in its own right. It has long been the favorite of many Grisham fans, and Grisham also admits that it’s his favorite of his novels. The book was later made into a movie starring Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sandra Bullock.

A Time to Kill is the story of a young lawyer named Jake Brigance who defends a man on trial for taking the law into his own hands and killing the men who raped his young daughter. As the trial progresses, the small town of Clanton, Mississippi, is torn apart by the conflict. In Sycamore Row, Jake Brigance will again fight for justice in Clanton, Mississippi. Last year, Grisham teased audiences in a Today interview with Matt Lauer when he said that he had never considered writing a sequel to one of his novels until recently. He said that over the years he had waited for the next great trial for Jake Brigance to tackle. Grisham said that he finally had the story in mind. Sycamore Row will be published in October.